Pages

Thursday, December 17, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The scheduled publication date for this book is January 5, 2016.Seventeen-year-old Mercedes Ayres has an open-door policy when it comes to her bedroom, but only if the guy fulfills a specific criteria: he has to be a virgin. Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself. Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed. When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process.
I did not expect to like this book at all. The premise just seemed weird to me: a girl who sleeps with guys (with girlfriends) who are virgins so that they can get their first time over with. I do really hate cheating, but I think this storyline was still handled rather well.

First of all, I just have to mention the first thing that grabbed my attention: THE USE OF BIRTH CONTROL!! How often is the use of condoms spoken of so freely in YA literature? Or any other genre? I have read my share of adult fiction and adult romance novels to know that condoms are either not spoken about at all or not used. Mercedes never depended on the guy to provide the condom. She had her own supply. And when a guy wanted to have sex without a condom, she put the stop to that right away. Loved that!!

Mercedes is such an easy character to like, despite the fact that she made many, many questionable decisions. She was flawed, but I understood why she did what she did (even though I disagreed). Mercedes had a horrible first time (which she does reveal late in the book) and this prompts her to "help" other guys so they can make sure their girlfriends have the perfect first time that she never had. I kind of got why Mercedes was doing it (like I said though, I really didn't agree), but I had no idea why these boys would cheat on their girlfriends that they supposedly loved. The beauty of this author is that she was able to make me feel so much about a girl who sets out to deliberately sleep with other girls' boyfriends. And I could relate to her thought process so much. Eventually, the secret does come out and the slut shaming in this book made me so angry. Yes, the girlfriends whose boyfriends cheated were mad at their respective boyfriends. But they did not make their lives miserable like they did with Mercedes. There was even a scene where a group of girls physically attacked Mercedes. Was that really necessary? I thought it was unfair for Mercedes to be called a home wrecker and a whore, especially since it's not like she forced any of those guys to sleep with her.

I think that towards the end though (before the secret came out), she gets sloppy and doesn't worry about the secrecy part anymore because she is using sex as a way to gain control of her life. Like I said, Mercedes is flawed. She has sex when she wants to and because she likes and then she has sex because she doesn't want to feel anything and she has sex because she thinks that's what she should be doing. I could appreciate her relationship with Zach above the others, mainly because it seemed like she actually enjoyed being with him. She was also terrified of falling for him and wanting more than just sex because she thought he would hurt her. When I found out the details of her first time, that was understandable. Also, her dad left and her mom was super hypersexualized. Her mom talked about birth control with her when she first got her period (which was a good thing) and she also had guys coming in and out of Mercedes's life all the time. Sometimes it seemed like Mercedes was sleeping with all these guys just to get her mother's attention. Not that she cared. Her mom was a piece of work, but there were times when it seemed like she was making an effort with Mercedes.

There were so many important messages in this book about sex and your first time and waiting. I am not religious at all, but I loved Mercedes's best friend, Angela and how determined she was to wait to have sex until she was married. When her boyfriend, Charlie (who was a complete jerk), started pressuring her to have sex, I was rooting for Angela NOT to give in unless she actually wanted to. There were so many honest conversations about sex and so much discussion about why people chose to have sex. I really wanted these girls to learn the lesson of waiting until you are ready to have sex. I think it's great that Mercedes was a character who loved sex and who wanted it (it's so rare to find a female in YA or any other genre with a healthy sex drive), but I still wanted her to realize that there was more to a relationship than just sex and that she could bring something to a relationship besides her body. I do feel there was some character development in this book, so I think she learned her lesson.

Buy/Borrow/Skip: If you are willing to go into this knowing there are some questionable decisions made about sex, I think you should buy this one. It was worth the read for sure.

12 comments
:

Wow sounds like there was a lot of good, sex positive things in this book (you know besides the cheating and what not). You are so right that condoms and other birth control are hardly ever in books. I just finished one an condoms were always mentioned and I thought "wow never really see that like you should". Glad there was also character growth. Great review!!

Grace, I swear when condoms were mentioned several times, I had to do a double take. Even when people do mention birth control in books (which is rare), it's mentioned kind of as a side note. And most of the time, the girl is only concerned about pregnancy, but the possibility of STD's aren't even mentioned. I loved that part of the book!

I know what you mean, Joy. When I first saw this premise, I cringed and I refused to request the ARC. But then I started to see a few positive reviews from fellow bloggers, so I decided to give it a chance. I am so glad I did because I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

The first time I read the premise, I was super skeptic Cynthia. But your great review, along others, have changed my mind! Cheating is a HUGE no-no for me. If the main characters are doing so in a book, I really cannot stand to read it. However, I can see where Mercedes gets her logic (as messed up as it is). This book sounds like an excellent exploration of topics not quite focused on in YA (like birth control and sex), which is why it sounds so unique! I'm definitely picking this one up if I can.

Thanks Alia! I am glad I could help change your mind. I really, really did NOT want to request this one, but a couple of great reviews changed my mind. I think it was really well done. I hope that you enjoy it!

Totally agree (shocking, I am sure ;) ) I mentioned the condom thing too, as part of the sex-positivity. Because talk about something that is NEVER taught to girls, but needs to be! And you are right- she DOES get sloppy, very sloppy. I almost feel like she wanted to be outed almost. Because she was getting so overwhelmed, mentally and emotionally. I don't think she could even keep up with the lies anymore. This was so, so good, and the conversations it could (no, WILL) lead to are so important! I am glad you liked it too! Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight

Thanks Shannon! I guess it is no surprise that I agreed with every single point in your review. We really are twinsies! And yeah, I agree that she may have wanted out or maybe she was so far gone that she didn't even care whether people found out or not. I was so surprised by this one and I am so glad I ended up requesting it!

yES I LOVE YOUR REVIEW. I just finished this and while I didn't really understand Mercedes motive (I mean, I get she had a bad first time, but why does she feel like she should make sure other people DO???) but I thought the storyline was really interesting. I particularly love how Mercedes NEVER mocked her friend for not having sex. Like that was the most impressive part to me. Like, there were two best friends with COmPLETELY different values, but yet they were not judging each other's decisions when it came to sex?!??! YAY. But yeah. What got me annoyed, though, was how Mercedes didn't think it'd fall about her ears and no one would tell. I mean...naive. >_>

Cait, YES!!! I was so afraid that Mercedes would judge Angela or that they would exaggerate Angela's beliefs to the point that she would look down on Mercedes for her actions. But I think Angela was just hurt that Mercedes didn't tell her anything. Angela and Mercedes had such different viewpoints about sex and I loved the message that EVERY viewpoint is okay. Every girl needs to make the choice for herself whether to wait for sex or not and one girl's decision is no better and no worse than anyone else's. It was such a great message for young girls and their friendship is the kind that every girl needs! And yeah, another commenter mentioned Mercedes just got to the point emotionally where she wanted to be outed because of all the lies. I think I agree with that because she started to get so sloppy about who she slept with and she ignored a lot of red flags. I am glad that you enjoyed it too!